Friday, November 4, 2011

What's in a name?

I was cleaning out some of the folders in my email inbox yesterday afternoon and I came across an email Jon sent to me in January regarding the name of our future Ernie. We had researched for months to find a great breeder (there are tons of breeders who stink believe it or not) and finally found the one. I think I have talked about it before but we originally wanted a fawn girl, google Fawn Frenchie puppy and you will know why :-). My mom was against boy pets and thus, I was too. Too much testosterone, they are aggressive, hump, etc. I consider my husband a dog expert because his mom is and Ja dog trainer/groomer and it was just the two of them growing up (he talks about answer phones and making appointments when he was just 5!). So moving on, I expressed my feelings about a girl dog. We even had an adorable name...Lola Moon Zombie (any Rob Zombie fans out there?). Jon was indifferent but wanted to let me know that in most cases, a dog has a stronger bond with the owner of the opposite sex. So if we got a girl dog, she would probably love Jon more than me :-). That is not the main reason we got a boy, it just turned out that the dame had 5 boys and no girlies, we loved his color and the timing was perfect. And Jon was right. Ernie loves the crap out of Jon but he has a longing obsession with me. He needs to have me in site at all times and he sleeps on my side at night. Just a little background on the little fur ball.

So back to the email. Since we were no longer getting a girl, we were stuck without a name (even though we already have our human baby names all picked out!). This is part of the email Jon sent (I put some of my own comments in RED)

Here is my short list with a few notes (#1 being my favorite):

10. Bacon - yum

I told Jon about the YoungHouseLove pup named Burger and he LOVED that haha

9. Cuda - one of my favorite cars and a cool name

Jon loves old cars, one of his favorite being a Hemi-Barracuda

8. Cobra - goes without saying for both the car and the awesome Stallone movie :-D

Same goes for the Cobra. One day we will own a Shelby Cobra :-). Jon also dressed up as Cobra for Man Day last year (they saw The Expendables)

7. Chuy - a cute Mexican name, but also reminds me of the little chunk on Chelsea

Anyone watch Chelsea Lately?! Chuy... haha

6. Samson - cool and Biblical, also fitting since our little guy will be pretty darn strong; my Dad used to have a Doberman named Samson

Samson and Delilah are a part of a story in the bible. I think most people assume they were super in love or something because they are in so many songs but Delilah actually betrayed him (he was not cutting his hair as to fulfill a vow from God and she cut it and turned him in to his enemies). I love the name though.

5. Ernie - cute, chunky name

Little did we know that our little Frenchie would be named Ernie! And to think it was #5 on Jon's list!! It was #1 on mine though

4. Asher (Hebrew) - Gen. 30:13 - "happiness"or "happy blessing"

The bible has so many wonderful names and this is one of my favorites although it is too trendy for an old-man-looking French bulldog haha.

3. Brisket - he will literally look like a side of brisket with his coloring

I mean how cute would it be to have a dog named brisket?! We loved this name, it was actually our second choice.

2. Kerbey - a very meaningful name (where we had our first date)

Our first date was at Kerbey Lane in Austin, TX and we have since gone back a few times a month. Also, the pastor who married us is named Kerbey, meant to be huh?

1. Giovanni (Gio): God is gracious, - It's Italian and has a great meaning (also is a form of John -- since we talked about naming him after Seward in some way)

There are so many great things about this name and I still do love it. Jon is Italian on both sides and there are so many great Italian names in his family (some of which we are going to use for human babies). For those of you Austinites, the man who died while hang gliding last summer (June 2010) was one of Jon's best friends, John Seward. He was such an amazing man and Christian, we talked about naming the pup after him in some way (obviously we couldn't have Jon and John haha). We still talk to him everyday and his picture hangs in our home.

So it was a couple weeks before the arrival of the unnamed pup and we wanted to decide on a name. We narrowed it down to Ernie and Brisket (I didn't want to tell Jon but Ernie was my fav!). At the time, Jon and I worked at the same company and our offices were right next door. He came over and we flipped a coin, heads for one name, tails for the other. And that's how little Ernie Hart was named!

His real name is actually....

I think Jon was still holding on to the Chuy thing so we decided that his real name would be Ernesto. We love calling him Ernessstooooooooo with a Spanish accent like we are in a telenovela. I let Jon choose his middle name (can't you tell). Jon and a few of his buddies have this inside joke from college about Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Waco. Every time they would pass it, they would do this weird fist pump thing and say the name. I think it is hysterical. I laugh every time I tell someone his name. Let's just say I will have more input on human baby middle names.

So what are the stories behind your dogs/babies/your own names?

I was named after my great gramma, Versa Ruth Rainey. Ruthie is my actual name though, not Ruth. I share my middle name, Lynn, with my mom's sister Jacki and my dad's sister Tracey. Jon (Jonathan David) was named after the story of David and Jonathan in the bible that can be found in the book of Samuel. I love when names have a deep meaning.

17 comments:

haha awww he is the cutest frenchie! i think ernie fits him perfectly!! scott and i went through a bazillllllion names for huxley before i randomly found the name "huxley" listed on facebook as someone's nephews name and new right there it was his name. hehe

Funny you mentioned Asher because thats what we were going to name Amelia if she were a boy (or if we ever have a boy!) We wanted to go either biblical or a family name and when I didn't really like any girl names in the bible (other than Noa, but everyone else hated it) we went with my great grandmothers name ;) I promise even though you have names picked out (I did since I was like...oh 12) you will go through every site and book looking for other names!

Loved this story!! My hubs and I decided on the breed of dog (Jack Russell) we wanted and while we researched breeders I also spent numerous hours researching names. I didn't have a preference of a girl or boy dog and then found the name Murphy and I fell in love, so we had to get a boy furry baby! Now we had the name and needed the dog...we looked at numerous pups before our Murphy stuck out. And like your Ernie he is a momma's boy!!

He's definitely an Ernie, but Brisket would have been cute. M and I have already picked out our dog's name (we'll be getting a dalmatian). His name will be King Louis. He's a huge sublime fan, so that's where it stems from.

That's funny. I had never heard that a dog has a stronger bond with a member of the opposite sex until now, but it totally makes sense! I've had a lot of dogs growing up (all girls) but now that I have a boy dog I totally can tell the difference in our bond. Crazy! Good to know.

Hahaha! Love all these names. And I love it when pets have middle names. My sister is visiting Austin for the first time this weekend, and I told her that her first stop MUST be Kerbey Lane for gingerbread pancakes and white queso!

So cute! I think Ernie is definitely an "Ernie" :) We love the name Asher for a human baby boy, hehe!!! Love, love it.

Obviously, you know the origin of Hartley (and I love that it has "Hart" in it :)... but I was named Heather b/c my mom was a military brat in Scotland and grew up around "Heather".. thus my name, heheh

Cuuute! I completely agree with dogs attaching more to the opposite gender. We have a male and female, and my little boy is a huuuuuuuuge Momma's Boy. And I love it!

Coal's name was pretty basic...we knew he was going to be black, and it was the best name that we both liked. Trinity's name is a bit more interesting. We had a dog named Lucy who died the same week that my grandmother died. We decided we were going to get a rescue Shar Pei the day after the funeral. Her name from the foster house was Stella, and it just didn't fit. My grandmother's name was Ruth, so I suggested Ruthie...but Trinity just wasn't cutesy enough for it. She looks and acts like a tomboy. Daniel suggested Trinity, after the county that my grandmother was born, raised, and died in. I looked at her and said, "Well, do you like Trinity?" and she responded by cocking her head, as if to say, "Sure!"

BTW, I love all the Biblical names - both Daniel and I plus all of our siblings have names from the Bible!

When we got our goldendoodle, all that we knew was that she had a coat with a red tint. Our top name was Dolly (after Dolly Parton) and I got into a frenzy that she needed to be named after someone with red hair. Hence, Addison "Montgomery-Shepherd" after the Grey's Anatomy character (and of course she now has big blonde curly fur now so Dolly could have worked!) but I do say that her middle name is Montgomery-Shepherd :)

Ha ha...man I can't seem to ever come up with cool names for pets...my family was always shouting out different names for our pets and I was always like "durrrrr....ummm.....yeah that sounds good." I mean I have a fish named Bear....really though.

My first name does not mean anything really...but my middle name is Elizabeth...which is my mom's middle name, my grandma's middle name....and guess what...if I have a daughter...her middle name! :)

Love Ernie. I agree with Heather...He is an Ernie and I am glad you are his obsession! Ha ha poor Jon ;)

Aw, I want a cute little dog now. My name was going to be Raquelle until the week before I was born my mom decided it would be Kelli instead. My middle name is Jo. My mom's name is Jodi, so I was named after her.

I had a dog that I named Atticus after the dad in To Kill A Mockingbird. That was the best name I've ever thought of. :)

I love hearing the meaning of names! Mine means "follower of Christ" although I probably did not fully appreciate this until the past few years. My first son's name means "unwavering protector"....tough and loyal, can't get any better ;)